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FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Fri May 01, 2020 11:13 pm
by mik
Motherfucker :cry:

Help / advice needed.

Pre-amp out and some level of tone controls essential.


Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Fri May 01, 2020 11:25 pm
by Simon
Fix it? Likely just a blown cap or something.

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Fri May 01, 2020 11:35 pm
by mik
Possibly. But obviously don’t want to invest and then some other 29yr old component pops.....

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 6:08 am
by Nefarious
I think I'd vote for repair as well. I always loved my 3240PE and now kinda regret letting it go (sold to Ross of this parish several years ago).

I replaced it with a pair of Arcam Alpha 9s, which were a definite quality upgrade (sound lovely with my B&W 602/603 combo). Now I've got the sub as well, I do miss the outright oomph of the NAD.

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 8:20 am
by Sundayjumper
Do NAD still exist ? If so a factory repair / service might be possible.

My Dad’s just sent his Quad CD player in for factory repair. These services do still exist !

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 8:35 am
by Rich B
Mik, your phone comes with headphones, just stream an mp3 through them.

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 9:09 am
by jamcg

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 9:34 am
by NotoriousREV
Rich B wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 8:35 am Mik, your phone comes with headphones, just stream an mp3 through them.
Or listen to songs on YouTube

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 10:07 am
by Rich B
NotoriousREV wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 9:34 am
Rich B wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 8:35 am Mik, your phone comes with headphones, just stream an mp3 through them.
Or listen to songs on YouTube
good call, and phones have speakers too.

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 10:12 am
by scotta

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 11:04 am
by mik
Cheers, but would not want another of unknown history - particularly with bashes.

It’s either repair mine or replace.

Power light comes on and sub is working, so the pre-amp is OK. Nothing to main speakers. Electrical stench behind power switch area, but I can’t see anything obvious and I’m not knowledgeable enough.

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 12:40 pm
by Orange Cola
Repair it and replace it with something new, it’s the evonomic way.

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 12:46 pm
by mik
Two blown fuses (that sit side by side on the board), and another - different rating - that I broke taking it out even though I could bloody see it was fine.

Have ordered new fuses.

And yes I know fuses usually pop for a reason.... but we’ll try this first - bought a pack of 10.

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 12:59 pm
by Rich B
Orange Cola wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 12:40 pm Repair it and replace it with something new, it’s the evonomic way.
repair it AND replace it?

Aah, mothball it for future generations.

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 1:52 pm
by drcarlos
Feeling your pain. I’m trying to replace a b&w 610i bass driver (dad passed them on to me a few years ago) and I finally found a new old stock replacement after about a year of looking only for it to turn up and be worse than my original unit. It appears the coil varnish breaks down and causes a subtle but annoying distortion and my original is ok until warmed up then it makes the noise, the replacement is bad from cold.
On this front once we are free again the driver going off for a rebuild, where hopefully it will get sorted.
These play via a pioneer a300x amp, but sadly mostly via the Alexa mini unless I’m practicing.

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 2:20 pm
by Nefarious
Apologies to Mik for piggybacking on his thread, but if anyone has any recommendations for an amp to power my Stroker sub - stated 1000W (but really considerably more) and 4 ohm - that'd be great. I bought one of these - https://reckhorn.com/en/amplifier/204/a ... ass-shaker - it's OK, but I have to run the gain pretty high, and it's barely touching the sides of what the sub will do.

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sun May 03, 2020 8:39 pm
by Sundayjumper
Sounds like these chaps can fix it:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264692000192

Repair & full refresh. Better than buying another of unknown providence.

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Sun May 03, 2020 9:57 pm
by mik
Have got a good local contact if (when :roll: ) new internal fuses don’t magically fix it.

But that looks like a very capable option too - more than I want to spend on a repair mind.... edit: but it’s more of a refurb than a repair to be fair.

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 9:14 am
by jamcg
mik wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 9:57 pm Have got a good local contact if (when :roll: ) new internal fuses don’t magically fix it.

But that looks like a very capable option too - more than I want to spend on a repair mind.... edit: but it’s more of a refurb than a repair to be fair.
What rating are the internal fuses? If they’re anything like the ones in boiler circuit boards they can blow from a small surge in mains electricity, boiler ones are usually fast blow 2amp

Re: FTAO Audiophiles

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 9:19 am
by mik
2x 4A side by side. Presumably one for each channel (?).

eBay bloke SundayJumper notes above has advised (in a question I asked about price) that the 3240PE has more expensive components than the majority of 3020 range due to its power handling. He didn’t provide a fresh quote - would want to take a look at it first.....